UT Congress colony cell chairman Shashi Shankar Tiwari was allegedly detained over the colours of his scarf — tricolour pattern which, besides being on the National Flag, is the backdrop of the Congress flag — and not permitted to receive keys to his allotted flat at the CHB function in Mauli Jagran where slum rehabilitation flats were handed over.

UT Congress colony cell chairman Shashi Shankar Tiwari was allegedly detained over the colours of his scarf — tricolour pattern which, besides being on the National Flag, is the backdrop of the Congress flag — and not permitted to receive keys to his allotted flat at the CHB function in Mauli Jagran where slum rehabilitation flats were handed over.

He said he was harassed by the police for four hours at the behest of BJP workers, “who seemed to have taken over a government function as if it was their party’s function”.

“I was shuttled from one police station to another only because the BJP sees Congress even in a tricolour scarf that has the words Vande matram and Jai Hind on it,” Tiwari remarked.

Assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu acknowledged that Tiwari had been asked to remove the scarf after some people had objected to it being seen as a Congress party symbol at a government function.

“He insisted that he wanted to file a complaint; so he had to go to the Daria police post for that,” he added. Tiwari had organised a chhabeel at the function venue.

Pardeep Chhabra, president of the Chandigarh Congress, who led a group of partymen to protest at the police post, condemned the alleged detention of Tiwari.

He took it further and criticised the BJP for “misusing the official machinery”.

He said, “In what capacity were the local BJP chief (Sanjay Tandon) and convener (Aarti Mehra) on the stage? Besides the governor and the minister, if the elected MP Kirron Kher was there, we won’t have had any problems. Banners of the BJP were also installed at the venue.”

It must be noted though that no one including Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu named the party in their speeches, except when the leaders referred to Tandon and Mehra. The government was referred to as the “Modi government”.

Chhabra underlined that the slum rehab scheme was launched by the UPA government. “More than 10,000 flats were already allotted by the then PM Manmohan Singh. The BJP is wrongly taking the credit for the work done by the Congress,” he said.